In the Breaking
by Amrun
Summary: Things rarely turn out as planned -- or, as it were, NOT planned. Sometimes, playing hooky actually is the answer. Challenge fic for the Kakasaku LJ community. ONE-SHOT. Complete.


A/N: This is my both my first one-shot and my first challenge fan fiction. Challenges can be a great way to get the creative juices rolling and to stretch myself as an author, so I decided to give it a go.

The prompt, from the kakasaku lj community: "Naughty Day is the theme for word challenge #2! 'Kakashi and Sakura playing hooky from the ninjin game and getting down and jiggy wid it.' So either it be smut or fluff or a mix of them both, give us your best 'sick day' story."

Generally speaking, I don't do smut OR traditional fluff. Naturally, as it is me, I felt it necessary to challenge the premises of the actual challenge. This one-shot is probably the closest to fluff that I will ever come (ever). I wasn't sure that writing a Humour / Hurt/Comfort fic was actually possible, but apparently, it is. Enjoy!

For the record, continuity is sometime after the Pain arc but there aren't any major spoilers.

Disclaimer: If I owned _Naruto_, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have jumped the shark. T3H POWR UF D4RKN3SS PREVAILS!!11!! (Not.)

* * *

_"Before, they had never found themselves broken together. Usually, it was one needing the other but not both needing each other, and so there had been a way, by touching, to borrow from the stronger one's strength."_

_-- Alice Sebold, __The Lovely Bones, pp. 20-21_

* * *

"Sakura." With uncharacteristic gentleness, he put a tentative hand to her bare shoulder. The puckered scar tissue spread beneath his fingers in a jagged pattern that he sometimes joked was rather pretty. "I've a mission and you're due at the hospital soon."

She whimpered in her half-sleep, rolling towards his touch. Her brow was furrowed deeply, bringing out more lines than should have been on a face of a woman her age. "Sasuke," she breathed, snaking a small hand up to grasp his forearm. "I won't let you," she said, voice suddenly cold.

Before he knew exactly what was happening, he was landing roughly on the ground, a cleanly broken arm crumpling beneath his weight. Sakura was straddling his back, twisting his other arm into a painful position.

Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the kunai cutting into his neck dropped to the floor with a clatter.

"Kakashi! Shit. I'm so sorry," she cried, rolling off him.

Kakashi sat up with a groan. "Good morning to you too."

"Let me see it."

He extended his wounded limb for her inspection. It was bent at an unnatural angle, colourful bruises already beginning to bloom underneath the skin.

"It's, well, um," she stalled, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. "At least it isn't shattered." She tried for a smile and a half-hearted laugh but it came out as a sob instead. She covered her face with her hands, weeping in earnest now. "What have I _done_?"

"It's okay," he assured awkwardly, breathing a little heavily from the pain.

"H-how can it be o-okay? I im-impose myself on you and then t-try to kill you."

"At least you almost succeeded this time," he said with mock-seriousness, smiling beneath his mask. "You're improving."

"Don't _say_ that! What if I had actually killed you?"

"It would take more than a nightmare to end me, Sakura-chan. Besides, I died once and it's not so bad, really." He shrugged but winced as a pain shot from his neck to his wrist, making little explosions of light burst behind his eyelids. In another situation, he might call them beautiful.

"You idiot," she sniffed, familiar anger lacing the habitual epithet. "Don't joke about things like that."

At least, he noted, she had stopped crying. He was surprised she had any more tears left, after the sheer amount she had shed last night.

She had come to his bed in the same way she always had: desperate. _Broken_, a voice whispered in the back of his mind, but he ignored it. She wasn't broken. At least not all the way. Not while she could still put herself back together.

When the death toll mounted or when the weight of memories became too much to bear, Sakura showed up on his doorstep – or sometimes, he showed up on hers.

She was moving over him now, fussing in her motherly way.

"I don't.... I haven't regenerated enough chakra to heal it if I want to have anything left over for my patients," she admitted. "I'm sorry."

"The blood...." he whispered. "Whose was it?"

Strangely, he had not been startled to find her waiting for him, last night. He had made it through Naruto's birthday party with all the right pleasantries, all the correct expressions of happiness. It was harder than ever, this year. Naruto had taken to wearing the cloak that he'd gotten from the sages at Mt. Myobokuzan on a more permanent basis. It had been their idea of a joke – or perhaps destiny. The flaming cape made Naruto more like Minato-sensei – too much like Minato-sensei. Kakashi had watched as Naruto grew from boy to man, his shoulders broadening, the planes of his face smoothing, his eyes gaining the depth of experience. With each passing day, it became a little harder to look at him.

Sakura hadn't been at the party. Though Naruto had been a bit put out, he understood that an emergency at the hospital was far more important than he – even if it had only been in recent years that he'd been brave enough to celebrate himself at all, especially on _that_ day.

Kakashi had stumbled home, only slightly drunk. Suddenly Sakura was there, covered in gore and with a hunger burning in her eyes that could not be denied. It didn't surprise him, had never surprised him. The only thing different this time was that her need coincided conveniently with his.

After a pregnant pause, Sakura finally answered his question, breaking him out of his reverie. "The blood.... It was a genin team's." She turned her gaze to his face; her bloodshot eyes were duller than he was comfortable with. "They died."

"I'm sorry."

She shrugged. "Death's not so bad. You said it yourself." Standing, she helped him up carefully. "Come on. Let's get you to the hospital. I start my shift soon anyway."

"Can't you just put me on the bed or something? I can wait until you can do it," Kakashi hedged.

"No," snapped Sakura, herding him towards the door. "I'm not letting you sit around in pain for hours for absolutely no reason. I'm sorry if it displeases you, Kakashi-sama, but we're still going to the hospital."

"Are you going naked, then? That would make it a lot easier on me. Give me something nice to look at while they set the bone and all that."

Sakura stopped, staring blankly down at her state of undress. "Oh. No. Wait for just a minute while I get dressed."

"Fine. Be a spoilsport, then," Kakashi sniffed.

"You're such a pain," she grumbled as she rooted around his apartment, unearthing disparate articles of clothing from their various hiding places.

"_You're_ a pain," he countered. "Especially today."

His words were playful but she froze with a blood spattered shirt halfway over her bare breasts. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, finishing dressing with a rustle.

"It's fine. That's not how I meant it anyway."

Her lips thinned tensely but she nodded, moving past him to hold the door open so he could pass through unhindered.

There was little small talk as they strode purposefully towards the hospital in eldritch pre-dawn light. Well, Sakura strode purposefully, anyway.

"Stop dawdling," she snapped.

"But that's a kitten," he said genially. "I think it's lost its mother. We should find her before it starves to death, alone on the streets of –"

"That kitten is at least ten weeks old. It will survive. It looks fat, too. Somebody obviously feeds it."

"I never knew you hated kittens, Sakura-chan." Kakashi's eye crinkled with a disarming smile.

"Come _on_," she growled. "I'm going to be late as it is."

Upon arrival at their destination, Sakura checked him in more efficiently than he could ever have managed on his own.

At this early hour of morning, the place was nearly deserted. She studiously ignored all the inquisitive looks from the staff but was caught off guard by the only other patient waiting in Emergency.

The little old lady snagged Sakura's arm as she and Kakashi passed. "Dear, are you aware that you are simply _covered_ in blood?"

The man with her coughed nervously. "Mother, please. It's rude to –"

"Yes, I'm aware," Sakura answered, smiling rigidly. "I'm a medic here. It's not uncommon."

"Those bloodstains look quite old and dry, though, and you've just come in. I saw you."

Sakura ground her teeth and opened her mouth to reply, but Kakashi cut her off.

"If you'll excuse us, ma'am. I'm in a bit of pain, as it were."

He sat down in a chair far away from the other two, dragging Sakura behind him with his good arm.

They didn't have to wait long. A nurse came in and called his name, though he had arrived well after the old woman and her son. Sakura's doing, he supposed. They were shown to a room and told that a medic would be in shortly.

Indeed, moments later a haggard-looking man slipped into the room quietly.

"Sakura-senpai?" he said, obviously surprised to see her there. "Are you injured?"

Sakura sighed. "No, Ugai-san. Your patient's name is on the same place in the chart it's always been."

The man looked down at the clipboard he was holding, colouring slightly. "So it is. Hatake Kakashi, then. What seems to be the problem?"

"Well, lately when I urinate, there's been this –"

"Shut up," snapped Sakura. Turning to Ugai, she said apologetically, "He's lying. He's broken his arm."

"Well, it wasn't exactly _me _that broke my arm," Kakashi mock-whispered to Ugai conspiratorially.

He regretted it when he saw how Sakura's face blanched, eyes brimming with tears once again. With his good hand, he reached over to give her thigh a reassuring squeeze.

Ugai cleared his throat uncomfortably. "And how _did_ you break your arm?"

"My parents said I'd been a bad little boy, so they –"

"Kakashi!" Sakura scolded. "Stop it."

He sighed and asked more seriously, "Is it really important to know how I broke it? It's broken just the same."

"It's standard procedure, sir. Out of my hands."

Kakashi glanced askance at Sakura. "We.... There was an accident this morning, that's all."

"What sort of accident?"

"I fell. I can be rather clumsy."

Ugai looked back and forth between Kakashi and Sakura, whose face was a vibrant red. It clashed brilliantly with her hair, Kakashi noted with passing interest. "You fell. Aren't you a ninja? A jounin, in fact?"

"Yes, actually, not that it matters."

Ugai frowned, marking something on the chart. "And what is that gash on the back of your neck? It's rather deep."

"Oh, that. That's from a kunai. It's nothing. I've had worse paper cuts."

"Did you fall onto a kunai?"

"No, that's from.... We were _playing_. You know," Kakashi insinuated, raising his eyebrow. Ugai's face lit in comprehension, eyes darting towards Sakura with sudden curiosity. "It got a little out of hand. I didn't even feel it at the time. I was preoccupied, if you catch my drift."

Sakura swatted at him in embarrassment, accidentally catching him too near his injured arm. He hissed in pain.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she gasped, tears finally breaking free to stream down her face.

"Quite alright, Sakura-chan. No permanent harm done," Kakashi replied lightly, though unable to fully banish his grimace.

"I'll just take a look, then," Ugai said, making quick work of the cut on Kakashi's neck. He then prodded the afflicted limb carefully. Kakashi winced.

"There's no need to poke him like that," Sakura admonished. "Be gentler. Use the flat of your palm."

"Y-yes, Sakura-senpai," stuttered the medic.

Kakashi chuckled. Ugai had to be nearly a decade older than Sakura and yet she'd cowed him effortlessly.

Flushing at his patient's amusement at his expense, Ugai straightened. "The break's quite bad. I don't see how a simple fall could cause something of this magnitude."

With her thigh still under his palm, Kakashi could feel it as Sakura tensed. "Who said the fall was simple?" he quipped. "It was quite complicated, actually. I should probably never have attempted a cartwheel while the floor was wet. Oh well. Live and learn, they say."

Ugai stared at them sceptically. "Sakura-senpai, are you _sure_ you're not injured? There's a lot of blood on your –"

"I'm sure," she snapped. "Are you going to heal him or not?"

"As I said, the fracture is complex. I think I need to bring in a consultant. If you'll just wait here...." Ugai all but fled the room, slamming the door behind him.

Before the echo faded, Sakura burst into tears once more. "How could you _say_ such things, you pervert?"

Kakashi laughed weakly. "I thought it was more interesting to –"

"More interesting? You made me sound like a sexual deviant or something! It was humiliating."

He sighed, reaching up to tenderly wipe some wetness from her cheeks with his thumb. "I thought you'd prefer that to the truth. I'm sorry."

Sakura sobbed harder. "No, _I'm_ sorry! I can't believe I hurt you so badly, Kakashi. I –"

She quieted abruptly at the sound of voices outside the door. "It's all very suspicious. He was evasive at first but eventually admitted to some rough sexual play. I never would have thought it of.... But she always cut him off and he allowed it. It _could_ be a case of domestic violence but we don't generally get battered men in these types of situations, especially ones in such high standing in the shinobi corps."

"Domestic violence? _Battered_?" Sakura gasped, shocked out of crying.

"I wasn't sure what to do, so I came to you, Shizune-senpai," Ugai continued.

"Shizune?" Sakura moaned, all blood draining from her face. "That's just fantastic. Wonderful."

The door cracked open. "That does sound a little odd, if...." Shizune trailed off, staring at them, incredulity written clearly in her features. "Sakura? _Kakashi-san_?"

"Good morning, Shizune-san!" Kakashi greeted cheerfully.

Sakura threw his hand off her thigh as if it had burned her and buried her face in her palms, groaning.

"Sakura, that's your uniform from last night, isn't it?" Shizune asked dazedly.

"Maybe." She did not look up from her hands.

"You're still wearing it."

"It's my favourite one."

"Oh, for the – you even _sound_ like him."

Kakashi chuckled. He couldn't help himself.

"I'll kill you," Sakura hissed, finally revealing her face to glare at him venomously.

"No, you won't," he returned solemnly, patting her knee.

"I _will_," she insisted.

"See?" Ugai whispered loudly to Shizune. "I told you."

"What in the—?" Shizune cried in confusion, looking between them. "Kakashi, I want to know what happened and I want to know _now_."

"We've all learned a very valuable lesson today," he began sagely. "We've discovered that one should not, under any circumstances, attempt acrobatics without the proper—"

"Oh, shut up," Shizune snapped uncharacteristically. She turned to Sakura expectantly. "Well?"

Sakura drew her knees up to her chest, hugging them tightly. It had been a long time since she'd let anyone see her look so vulnerable. Kakashi's throat tightened at the sight of her.

"Please tell me what the hell is going on here. I know I don't _really_ have to have anyone prosecuted for domestic violence." When no one stepped up to assure the veracity of that statement, Shizune blanched. "Right, Sakura?"

"Shizune, please," Kakashi begged.

"No," Sakura interrupted, voice meek. "I'll tell."

He frowned. "Sakura—"

"I attacked him."

Shizune stared blankly. "You were training this early in the morning? It's half past four."

"No. I really tried to kill him."

"Sakura, you didn't—" he argued.

"I did."

"You were _asleep_. You thought I was Sasuke."

"It doesn't matter. I h-hurt you." She was weeping again, tears tracking silently down her face. Idly, he wondered where the hell they kept coming from. It really was a feat how she kept producing them like that. "I'm s-so _sorry_," she cried brokenly.

Momentarily forgetting the audience, he gathered her into a somewhat gauche one-armed hug. She clutched at his vest, distraught. "I was touching your scars," he said into her hair. "Where he – where he hit you with the chidori. It was – I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."

"Uchiha Sasuke is _dead_. We killed him. _I_ killed him," she whispered, burying his face into the rough material of his flak jacket. "Why won't he stop haunting me?"

"And what were you doing touching her at all?" Shizune accused, forcefully reminding him of her presence. She looked a bit shell shocked. "Why were you even with her in the middle of the night?"

"Well, there was this lost kitty, you see. Its feelings were hurt because Sakura called it fat, so we _had_ to comfort it. We spent all night searching for its mother, but it was so late when we finally found it that—"

"Don't tell Naruto," pleaded Sakura anxiously, butting in.

"I think Naruto should know, Sakura," Shizune said slowly. "He –"

"Wouldn't understand," Sakura finished. "It's impossible to explain. _Please_."

The silence was oppressive. "Okay," Shizune finally said. "But you should tell him. You _have_ to tell him."

"Can someone just heal my arm, please? I was supposed to leave for a mission two hours ago."

Sakura sat up, startled. "You never said!"

He shrugged and turned to Shizune. "Well? I'm not exactly comfortable, you know."

She sighed. "Hold it out, then."

Sakura used the opening to glower at Ugai, who was skulking about in the back of the room looking distinctly ill at ease. "You! Why don't you take this opportunity to observe someone set an arm properly? You were fumbling about earlier."

Warily, he sidled up along Shizune to peer over her shoulder. Kakashi caught him muttering, "If you're so perfect, why don't you do it yourself, Princess?"

"Chakra exhaustion can be quite draining, I've heard," Kakashi remarked casually, as if to himself. "But perhaps you medics can clear up that bit of confusion for me."

"This will hurt," Shizune informed him matter-of-factly. "Prepare yourself."

Kakashi feigned surprise and turned to the male medic with trepidation in his visible eye. "I'm afraid I'm not very good with pain. Will you hold my hand, Ugai-san?"

Ugai gaped, darting a glance towards Sakura. "It might be better to hold your girlfriend's –"

"But she's very delicate," Kakashi explained patiently. "I wouldn't want to hurt her."

Shizune snorted in an unladylike manner. "Yeah, as delicate as a flower. That's Sakura-chan for you. Why don't you take his hand, Ugai-san? The patient knows best. There's a good lad."

Hesitantly, Ugai gripped Kakashi's uninjured hand.

"Okay. Ready?" Shizune asked, hands resting on his broken appendage. Kakashi nodded. She twisted violently and something gave way with a loud _snap_.

Kakashi bore down on Ugai's hand with as much force as he thought he could get away with, gritting his teeth against the pain.

Though Kakashi didn't make a sound, Ugai was howling, cradling his crushed hand to his chest. "You broke it!"

"I did no such thing," replied Kakashi nonchalantly as Shizune proceeded to heal his arm with glowing palms. "Maybe you're just a sissy."

"You're the one who needed me to—"

"If you say so."

"All done," said Shizune, who then turned to Ugai. "Calm down. It's not actually – it _is_ broken. Kakashi-san, did you have to break his fingers? I need those. Break a toe next time, if you must."

"I'll keep that in mind," shrugged Kakashi.

"Go get someone else to fix you up," Shizune instructed Ugai. "I need to preserve my chakra."

"Shall I file the domestic violence report?" he asked, assiduously _not_ meeting anyone's gaze.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and exhaled with a shudder. Shizune glanced at her before answering. "No. It was obviously an accident."

"Just like I said," reminded Kakashi.

Ugai flushed then turned on his heel with a curt nod. This time, he shot out of the room as if the Kyuubi itself was upon him.

"Sakura, you know you're an hour late for work, don't you? I hope it's not going to become a habit." Shizune pointedly avoided looking at Kakashi as she said this.

"Actually, Sakura's got a cold. I don't think it's a good idea for her to be around old people. They smell funny."

"Kakashi!" Sakura reproved, clearly scandalised.

"That is to say, she could make them ill and poses a serious threat to their fragile immune systems."

Shizune turned a calculating gaze to her junior. "She does seem a bit runny."

"I think it's safe to say that there is snot all over her face, not to mention all over my vest."

"_Kakashi_," Sakura growled in warning, quickly covering up her horrified and slightly sticky face. "I hate you."

"Sakura, why don't you go back home and rest? It's no good if the medic is sick herself."

"But I'm not even –"

"Go back to bed, Sakura. You're exhausted," Kakashi said, levelling a suddenly serious gaze at her.

"Fine," she grumbled. "Why don't you go on your stupid mission, then? If they know you at all, they're probably just arriving at the rendezvous point."

"What's the rush? I'm a bit peckish. I was thinking we could stop by—"

"You're impossible!" seethed Sakura, working herself into a snit. "How I ever manage to get anything done with your lazy –"

"Actually," Shizune cut in, "you should rest your arm up, Kakashi. Putting it straight into action so soon after such a nasty break is an unnecessary risk. I'll inform Hokage-sama that you're incapacitated."

Kakashi stared at her in bewilderment. He'd gone on missions under worse conditions many times before. "But my arm is absolutely –"

"Important," finished Sakura, an evil glint in her eye. "We can't have you breaking it again so soon, can we?"

"Exactly," Shizune agreed, casting a measuring glance between them. "Take it easy for awhile, Kakashi. Rest. Do some light exercises to strengthen your arm. I think Naruto's free for the day as well. Why don't you meet him for lunch? Ramen is good for people with colds."

Ah. He knew what she was about now. "I'm fine to go on the mission, you know."

"I'm the medic here and I say you're not. Go home. Talk to Naruto-kun."

Kakashi sighed. "I guess someone's got to take care of Sakura-chan in her infirmity. It could always be someone else, though," he added hopefully.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Why don't we go back to bed, like you suggested earlier?"

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and caught the self-satisfied smirk tweaking her lips. "Well, when you put it like _that_.... Okay." His eye crinkled into a grin he knew would infuriate her.

"I didn't mean _that_, you pervert," groused Sakura, glaring.

Shizune looked a bit green. "Ramen. Naruto," she bit out. "_Today_."

"Come on, Sakura-chan," Kakashi said, standing up. "Head colds can get quite nasty if not properly treated."

"Shut up or I'll break your other arm," she grumbled, though she stood up as well.

"I always did like you for gentleness, you know."

"Funny. And I thought I liked you because you were _quiet_."

"I have better things to do than listen to you two bicker," Shizune barked. "Out!"

"You mean you're not happy to see us?" Kakashi pouted. "I'm hurt. Really, I am."

"If you don't tell Naruto _today_, then I will! Do I make myself clear?"

"She's a real shrew, that one," he whispered loudly to Sakura, who couldn't fully suppress a giggle.

"_Out_!" repeated Shizune, shoving them forcefully through the door. "And change your clothes, Sakura. That's disgusting."

Neither of them said anything as they left the hospital. Without discussion, they turned into one of the few restaurants open this early in the morning and sat down to breakfast.

"I think you might start a trend," Kakashi said, breaking the silence. "That waitress seems to like your outfit."

"Oh, yes, I'm sure she's thinking that I look extremely attractive right now," Sakura agreed carelessly, staring out the window.

This was never supposed to happen, Kakashi thought. The accepted, more garden-variety sort of need that occasionally consumed them was supposed to come and go, and it did. What he had never counted on was what it left in its wake.

The waitress was standing in front of their booth looking a little nervous. "Excuse me, but may I ask if you are well?"

"Yes, we're fine. Just hungry," Kakashi supplied helpfully, doing his best to look as if he was perplexed at the question.

"I'm sorry," she said with a little bow. "It's just that your appearance is a bit – well...." she trailed off, glancing furtively at Sakura.

Sakura rolled her puffy, reddened eyes. "Well, I just got done with murdering some babies but they weren't quite enough to fill me up. So I decided I'd come here and top off my breakfast with a bit of sausage and eggs."

"I see," said the waitress faintly. "And what can I get for you this morning?"

"I just told you. Eggs and sausage. Over-easy for the eggs. Oh, and some milk, please."

The waitress took down the order, looking between them with wide eyes. Kakashi could tell they were stretching her polite attitude to its extreme. "And for you, sir?" she asked, sounding strained.

Kakashi couldn't stop the laughter from rumbling in his chest. A muscle in the waitress' eye began to tic. "Natto, please."

Sakura looked up from the window for the first time. "You are _not_ getting natto."

"Why ever not? It's very healthful, I'll have you know."

"It's _horrid_ and I won't sit here and watch you eat it. It will make me ill. Sick people get nauseous easily," she added with a little triumphant stare.

He sighed. "Miso soup will be fine, then."

"Yes, sir," the poor waitress mumbled, hurrying away.

"Did you help Shizune into forcing me to play hooky just to harass me, Sakura?"

"Did _you_ help Shizune into forcing me to play hooky just to harass _me_?"

"No," he replied simply. "I thought you'd appreciate not having to face everyone just yet. And you _are_ tired."

"Well, maybe I like a little distraction," she protested weakly but couldn't hide the look of guilt that flashed across her features. "I thought forcing you to skip your mission would annoy you." She looked back out the window. "But you'll probably just read _Icha Icha_ all day. So not much difference, really."

"I'm not reading _Icha Icha_ right now."

"Only a matter of time," she shrugged.

The silence stretched between them, not entirely comfortable but not wholly uncomfortable, either. After a time, the waitress brought their food and they ate it. Kakashi was quick to pull his mask back up as the waitress came to collect their bill, eager to see them go – likely afraid that they'd scare away decent customers. Sakura paid without a word, leaving the waitress a hefty tip for her trouble. She probably felt bad for being rude, reasoned Kakashi, not even contemplating offering to pay himself.

They left, walking along together until a certain juncture where Sakura would have to split off to go to her house. She didn't. Kakashi looked at her curiously but didn't comment.

When they reached his apartment, he turned to her expectantly.

"We have to figure out what we're going to tell Naruto," she said quietly.

"Ah," he said, comprehension dawning. He opened the door for her, ushering her inside.

They stood there for a moment just staring at each other.

"Kakashi," Sakura whispered. "I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"Of everything. When did things get this messy?"

"Sometime when we had our backs turned."

"Do we have to tell him?" Her voice was very small.

"It's better he hears it from us than from anyone else, Sakura."

"But what is there to even _tell_?"

Kakashi shrugged. "This," he said, and kissed her.

Desperately, she kissed him back. They did what they did best – comforted each other. It was her first Chuunin Exam. It was the roof of the hospital. It was more.

Somehow, this time was different from every other time. The underlying anguish that had always driven them before was still present, but at the moment, it was muted. This time, Kakashi _knew_ they weren't broken – not as long as they could still put each other back together again.

If they lent one other strength, perhaps there would be enough to go around.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading. This was written and posted in one sitting, which I NEVER do. As always, constructive criticism is welcome and will be returned in kind.

Here's to expanding my literary horizons, blah blah blah. A toast to new experiences!


End file.
